It is open to any trader to join the particular institution which represents his own province or trade without being either proposed, seconded, or balloted for.  He is expected to make some present to the resources of the guild, in the shape of a new set of glass lanterns, a pair of valuable scrolls, some new tables, chairs, or in fact anything that may be needed for either use or ornament.  Should he be in want of money, a loan will generally be issued to him even on doubtful security.  Should he die in an impoverished condition, a coffin is always provided, the expenses of burial undertaken, and his wife and children sent to their distant home, with money voted for that purpose at a general meeting of the members.  Were it not for the action of these guilds in regard to fire, life and property in Chinese cities would be more in danger than is now the case.  Each one has its own fire-engine, which is brought out at the first alarm, no matter where or whose the building attacked.  If belonging to one of themselves, men are posted round the scene of the conflagration to prevent looting on the part of the crowd, and the efforts of the brigade are stimulated by the reflection that their position and that of the present sufferers may at any moment be reversed.  Picked men are appointed to perform the most important task of all, that of rescuing from the flames relics more precious to a respectable Chinaman than all the jade that K’un-kang has produced.  For it often happens that an obstructive geomancer will reject site after site for the interment of some deceased relative, or perhaps that the day fixed upon as a lucky one for the ceremony of burial may be several months after death.  Meanwhile a fire breaks out in the house where the body lies in its massive, air-tight coffin, and all is confusion and uproar.  The first thought is for the corpse; but who is to lift such a heavy weight and carry it to a place of safety without the dreaded jolting, almost as painful to the survivors as would be cremation itself?  Such harrowing thoughts are usually cut short by the entrance of six or eight sturdy men from the nearest guild, who, armed with the necessary ropes and poles, bear away the coffin through flame and smoke with the utmost gentleness and care.

PAWNBROKERS

Few probably among our readers have had much experience on the subject of the present sketch—­a Chinese pawnshop.  Indeed, for others than students of the manners and customs of China, there is not much that is attractive in these haunts of poverty and vice.  The same mighty misery, which is to be seen in England passing in and out of mysterious-looking doors distinguished by a swinging sign of three golden balls, is not wanting to the pawnshop in China, though the act of pledging personal property in order to raise money is regarded more in the light of a business transaction than it is with us, and less as one which it is necessary to conceal from the eyes of the world